Glyos System Influences: Fisher-Price Adventure People

Back in 2011 I ran three “Glyos System Influences” posts in which I speculated on what toys of the past had an affect on the Onell Design Glyos System action figures. Those three posts — Glyos System Influences: Starcom, Glyos System Influences: Air Raiders, and Glyos System Influences: Mantech Robot Warriors — were so much fun to write that I thought I’d return to the idea well. Enjoy!

One Straight, One Bent

One of the more immediately obvious influences the Adventure People had on the first of the Glyos System action figures was in the design of the arms on the toys. If you look through the old Adventure People toys — Plaid Stallion’s has the 1983 catalog online — you’ll see that the figures have one bent arm and one straight arm. I remember thinking it was a little unusual when I was a kid, but I also remember loving the same idea on the vintage Star Wars Hammerhead and Cloud Car Pilot action figures so there’s no telling what I was thinking in the early eighties.

The Glyos System action figures may have more joints than the old Fisher-Price Adventure People toys, but that combination of a bent arm and a straight arm really fires my mind back to the old days and it’s a very cool homage to an older line of toys.

Bulky-Suited Astronauts

From the second I saw the photos of the Glyos System Glyanauts I couldn’t help but think of the Fisher-Price Adventure People . . . and not just because Matt Doughty wrote:

That little Glyanaut got something rolling while I was building some stuff, resulting in a full spectrum of Adventure People inspired creations.

I’m sure that helped my mind a little, but looking at the figure design and those toy-like colors just had to lead my mind to Adventure People territory. I love the look and style and hope that we one day see brightly-colored Glyanauts released at the Onell Design store.

Unapologetically Bright Colors

And speaking of bright colors, the first peak at this week’s new Glyos toys came right out and told us that this latest wave was inspired by the Fisher-Price Adventure People . . . so that makes this influences post a bit less speculation on my part and more of a confirmation of something we already knew (and an excuse to ramble on a bit about figure limbs and colors).

But if we look at the colors that have been revealed so far and compare that to the old Adventure People figures — see fpclub.org — I think we can all recognize that Matt wasn’t kidding when he said the new Glyos figure colors are homages to the Adventure People. I never realized how much yellow/orange there was on those old figures!

Bring Us More!

I’m really looking forward to the Adventure People-inspired colors in this week’s Glyos System drop and can say quite happily that I hope we see more waves that take inspiration from the Fisher-Price Adventure People. If I can apply a bit of a subtle suggestion to everyone I have to say that what we need is an Alpha Probe-inspired Glyos System Rig; just imagine a white Rig with the pattern shown on the front of the Alpha Probe toy in the above photo. That would be awesome!

The Fisher-Price Adventure People line was one of those I had bits and pieces of as a kid and never really collected, but looking back now I can appreciate just how cool it was and am happy to see the line has a direct affect on the toys I buy today. The long reach of the seventies just won’t let go!

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